


The Rabbit Becomes the Fox

by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AFTG Exchange, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar Neil, M/M, Pro-Bending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 04:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth
Summary: Neil has been on the run all his life.  As the Avatar, he has a lot of enemies.  But it's time for him to stop running.





	The Rabbit Becomes the Fox

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ScriptaManent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScriptaManent/gifts).



> This is for the Valentine's Day AFTG Exchange. It is for @lost-in-gayness and the prompt was for an Avatar: The Last Airbender AU. I decided to focus a little more on the Legend of Korra era so I hope you like it! Thank you, NikoTheSpoonKlepto for providing your services as a beta!

Neil closed and locked the door behind him, breathing a sigh of relief as Wymack’s voice cut off and his footsteps moved away. The lectures were never-ending and he was absolutely sick of it. He gazed out the window at the lights of the city and all he wanted was to disappear among them. There was a safety in anonymity that he missed. 

A weight flopped over his shoulder, nearly sending him to the ground. “Thalia,” he scolded. She had the grace to look ashamed. He couldn’t be too mad at her. The way she had been confined all his life to keep her from growing meant that she was unaccustomed to her new size. She slid off of him and perched her forefeet on the windowsill.

“You want to go out too,” he murmured. “Well, come on then. What Wymack doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He climbed onto her back and ducked his head as she flew out of the window. Minutes later, she was landing on a secluded area by the shore.

“Fly, Thalia,” he whispered and she took off once more. He wished she could be by his side on the ground but he could never disappear into a crowd if his companion was the last living dragon in the entire world. It would be enough that she flew above him and would fly to his aid if he called her.

He had intended to wander with no destination but he soon found his feet turning toward the pro bending arena. The noise of the crowd pulled him in long before he could even see the building. It had been at least ten years since he had last set foot inside but he still remembered the special entrance and he managed to slip into an empty seat in the top layer of the stands.

He didn’t recognize any of the teams but he didn’t expect to. His mother had tanned his hide every time she caught him expressing the slightest interest in returning to pro bending.

He was immediately drawn to the team in orange, the Fire Foxes. They weren’t amazing. Actually, they were losing miserably, but Neil couldn’t help but watch. The firebender was tall and lanky, dark curly hair sticking out from behind his mask. His footwork was sloppy and he struggled with strategy but he made up for it in enthusiasm and loudly shouted encouragement to his teammates. The waterbender was short and blond and had absolutely none of the grace that Neil associated with the bending forms and he used several unorthodox moves that exploded in his face as often as they worked. His gaze went from there to the earthbender and Neil could not look away. He was identical to the water bender in nearly every way but skill. His body exuded strength in every line. His style was careless and apathetic on the surface but Neil could see that no movement was wasted. Every disk he threw hit its mark and none of the attacks from the other team could touch him.

The firebender was out first. He took a disk to the shoulder. Neil winced as he heard the crack. A water whip to his feet sent him over the edge of the playing field. The waterbender flinched violently away from a barely legal jet of flame. He brought up a wave of water with a wild sweep of his arm but he was already off balance and the next attack pushed him off the edge as well. The earthbender saw his two teammates were down and instead of pushing back at the other team, he pulled off his mask, grinned mockingly at them and executed a controlled backflip into the water below.

Neil watched the other matches with the same intense interest but none of the teams captured him the way the Fire Foxes did. He was getting ready to slip back out when someone sat down close beside him, startling him. He cursed himself for becoming so complacent and prepared to fight his way out.

He relaxed minutely when he realized it was just Kevin, although the tension filled his shoulders once more when he recognized the other man’s lecturing face.

“If I follow you now, can you wait til we’re alone to freak out on me?” Neil sighed.

Kevin’s scowl grew deeper. “I am the picture of calm,” he hissed.

“Yes, I can see that,” Neil said. He didn’t bother arguing with Kevin but strode out of the arena as quickly as he could, whistling for Thalia. She had landed beside Queen Day, Kevin’s sky bison, by the time they reached the open air. Kevin was already talking but Neil tuned him out and pulled himself onto Thalia’s back. “Race you to the air temple!” he shouted, leaving Kevin gaping in his wake.

Dragons are built for speed and Neil was diving back through his window before Kevin reached the island.

“How was your field trip?” Wymack’s voice came from the darkness in the corner of his bedroom.

Neil jumped again and cursed airbenders for their light feet. He said nothing and waited for Wymack to continue.

Wymack sighed. “Look kid, I didn’t bring you here for shits and giggles. There are a lot of people out there who would love to have a pet Avatar in their wheelhouse and I promised Kayleigh that I would protect whoever took up her mantle.”

“And a great job you’ve been doing of that too. Where are the water and earth Avatars again? Neil snapped.

Wymack’s face clouded over and he took a step toward Neil. Neil couldn’t keep from flinching back, knowing he had gone too far.

Wymack suddenly looked sad. “I’m not gonna hurt you. The other two were infants. They were already gone before I even knew they existed. And that is on me. But I have a chance now to train you and protect you. And I can’t do that if you won’t let me.”

Neil nodded slightly and Wymack’s face returned to its regular scowl. He left the room. “He’s all yours, son,” he said as he walked down the hall.

Neil leapt to slam the door but it was too late. Kevin was already in his room and it looked like the lecture had had too much time to build.

“Why did you quit pro bending?” Neil asked, cutting him off at the pass. Kevin closed his mouth and went pale.

“I mean, you were the world’s only pro airbender. Why would you leave it behind?” Neil continued.

“We’re not having this conversation,” Kevin growled, “not without a drink anyway.”

“Will you teach me?” Neil pressed on.

“The Avatar is not meant to bend for sport. He provides spiritual balance to the world. And you can’t even airbend yet. No, you should focus on mastering the element of air, especially considering you’re doing this whole thing out of order,” Kevin said.

“We’ve been over this. Water and earth bending helped me blend in while we were on the run. Air did nothing but paint a target on my back,” Neil rolled his eyes. “Besides, your mother literally created pro bending. How do you know she wouldn’t want me to learn?”

“Then why don’t you go into the Avatar State and ask her yourself?” Kevin challenged.

“That’s not fair,” Neil said.

“Right, because spirituality is vulnerability and if you’re communing with the spirit world, you’re not watching your back,” Kevin mocked.

“Well maybe if I learned to play the sport she loved, I could figure out how to make that spiritual connection. We both know meditation sucks ass. Let’s try it a little differently,” Neil argued.

Kevin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “Ugh, fine. Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Neil asked.

“Back to the arena.” Kevin hoisted his leg over the windowsill and jumped down onto Queen Day who had apparently been waiting under the window all this time.

“But the matches are over,” Neil protested.

Kevin flushed dark enough that Neil could see it in the dim light from the window. “I have a key to use after hours. I’m not teaching you this here. My father will have a fit.”

“You’re such a fucking hypocrite,” Neil said as he followed Kevin out of the window and settled on Queen’s back. Kevin shot him a dark look and Neil was wise enough to keep his mouth shut the rest of the way there.

The main stage was dark but Kevin turned on a few of the lights to illuminate just the playing field and left the stands in shadows. Neil ran over to his position and turned to face Kevin. He sent out his awareness, feeling the elements of the field, tuning into the water reservoir and grounding himself so he could feel the strength of the earth beneath his feet. The familiar potential of fire sparked in the air around his fingertips, just waiting for him to call it into being.

“There are several fundamental differences between your bending style and pro bending. Before you begin to bend any element, we should run through each of the forms we have been practicing and discuss how to adapt them for the arena. Please take your opening stance,” Kevin began.

“For which element?” Neil asked.

“Fire, obviously. You must learn to walk before you can fly. Now, opening stance, no flames, just forms,” Kevin said.

Neil rolled his eyes but moved into his stance. He quickly was overcome by mind-numbing boredom as Kevin droned on and made miniscule corrections to every move he made. Eventually he had enough, he reached out and pulled water up from the reservoir and sent it shooting straight into Kevin’s face.

Kevin gaped at him, sputtering on water. Neil sent a flame right at his face, enough to evaporate the water but not to burn him. “Can we please move on? I’m going to learn better by trying it anyway.”

Kevin raised one eyebrow and attacked. Neil was caught off guard and lost his footing. He rolled, kicking his feet at Kevin and sending jets of flame across the centre line. Kevin sent a withering blast of wind to keep him off balance and Neil flung up a wall of ice between them so he could get back to his feet. 

It didn’t last long. Kevin used his patented air cannon move and shattered the ice, turning it into a twister of razor sharp ice crystals. 

Neil started his own fire tornado in the center of Kevin’s and pushed it outward, melting the ice and shoving back at the other man. And Kevin was gone, leaping lightly over the flames and floating back to earth, landing perfectly balanced. Neil roared and flung two of the earth disks but Kevin bent gracefully back and they soared over him. He popped back up and sent his air cannon right into Neil’s chest, tossing him off the platform and into the water. Neil gathered the water beneath him and used it to lift himself back to the platform. He landed in a vacuum as Kevin pulled all the air away from him and encased him in a suffocating bubble. He tried to reach out for the other two elements but his focus was gone and he fell to his knees, conceding defeat.

Kevin released him and Neil sucked in great gasps of air. A long slow clap from behind him had Neil whirling around, fists wreathed in flame. In the midst of his growing panic, he recognized the earthbender from the Fire Foxes. He released the flames but took a step back toward Kevin.

“Interesting,” was all the man said.

“Andrew,” Kevin nodded.

“I’m used to you showing up alone,” Andrew said. “Who’s the rabbit?”

“Rabbit?” Neil asked, more than a little outraged.

Andrew walked closer. Neil stood his ground. Andrew reached out and put his hand to feel the pulse jumping in his throat. 

“You pretend otherwise, but I can see how much you want to run right now.” Andrew grinned, big, toothy, and empty.

“We’re in the middle of practice,” Kevin interrupted angrily. “Are you here to join?”

Andrew dragged his eyes away from Neil and focussed back on Kevin. “I’ve never practiced with you before. Why would I start now?”

“What are you doing here then?” Kevin asked.

“He’s hiding from us,” the tall firebender from Andrew’s team pulled himself up onto the platform. “I’m used to that but I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him for hiding you away, cutie.” He winked at Neil.

“Hands off, Nicky, or I’ll break your other arm,” Andrew growled.

“Andrew, you know I’m madly in love with my fiancé. But he doesn’t mind if I appreciate beauty in the human form,” Nicky said, winking at Neil. “His name is Erik, you’d love him. Nonbender but we don’t hold it against him. He lives in Ba Sing Se.”

“Ok,” Neil replied, thoroughly confused as to why Nicky was now talking to him. He noticed the sling on Nicky’s right arm. “It’s broken?”

Nicky winced. “Yeah, Aaron did his best but he can’t knit bone. I’m out for a few weeks at least.”

“And we’re down one firebender,” the final member of the Fire Foxes joined them on the playing field. “Although I guess there’s precedent for recruiting an airbender. Kevin, are you interested?”

“No,” Andrew said before Kevin could respond. “We’ll take the rabbit.”

“What?” Kevin screeched.

“I have a name,” Neil said.

“Good for you,” Andrew said. “Practice starts tomorrow morning at six.”

“But...I can’t…” Neil sputtered.

Andrew stepped into his space again and looked him in the eyes. “You’re a runner. I know that much. But I also know you’ve stopped, and I suspect it’s for a reason. If you still want to run after Nicky’s arm heals, feel free. But you’ll regret it if you don’t give try.”

“The crowds,” Neil said. “They’ll all know my name...my face.”

“Do you want to do this?” Andrew asked.

Neil opened his mouth to protest but he couldn’t lie when Andrew’s eyes bored into his. He shut his mouth and nodded. “I haven’t played since I was a child,” he argued weakly.

“Then give your game to Kevin,” Andrew said.

“I…” Neil tried one last time to refuse.

“But give your back to me. You can trust me...Avatar.” Andrew moved in just a little closer, daring Neil to give ground.

Neil nodded even as Kevin started yelling.

“Neil, you can’t do this. It’s too dangerous.” Kevin grabbed his shoulder.

“It’s what I want, Kevin. You can watch me or you can help me but you can’t stop me,” Neil said. He looked at Andrew once more. “I’ll do it.”

Andrew turned and left the field without a word. Neil was left facing an irate Kevin, a skeptical waterbender, and an enthusiastic firebender who was already making a concerted effort to talk Neil’s ear off. He wondered what he had just gotten himself into.


End file.
